


Sing me to sleep in your arms

by 420_im_lonely



Series: Sing me to sleep in your arms Series [1]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Amnesia?, Angst, Ex hitman iskall, Flashbacks, Fluff, Gen, Gods and Deities, HEIGHT DIFFERNCES, Hybrid Hermits, I add tags as i go, I write all relationships as platonic bc some creators aren’t comfortable with being shipped, If a both hermits say they are okay with being shipped, Kinda?, Looking cannon dead in the eye before i murder it, M/M, Minecraft personas only you dirty heathens, Mumbo being a spoon, Or from possums, PTSD, Sweet little children, Temporary Character Death, The tags are such a train wreck i swear, There are a few relatives of the hermits but they are completely what i need them to be, There is swearing but its used (mostly) sparingly, Torture and Gore, Traumatic backstories for all, Winged Grian, Yikes, Zedaph is tol, either very soft relationships or very gay friends, flirt with becoming food for worms, i might just descend to dirt, i only accept criticism in the form of interpretive Shakespeare ice skating, i promise i love tango but sacrifices had to be made and wheel picker chose him, impluse is swol, it goes from 25 to 100 to 0 back to 100 real quick, joe being cryptic, mumbo wanting the only thing he cant have, oh yeah trauma, or both!, pirates!, relationships can be seen as platonic or romantic, ren is smol, shapeshifter? Ish?, sheep hybrid Zedaph, thats the only time ill ship them, traumatized narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:53:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28483440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/420_im_lonely/pseuds/420_im_lonely
Summary: This was not how the hermits thought season 7 would go, but they didnt have any reason to change it, after all, they’ve gained a new friend! Sure hes skittish and a bit paranoid, and he migh have very large wings and speaks a long dead language, but that was fine.Until they realize, this person is connected to all of them, whether it was a glimpse of him in a past world, a failed shot, a close friend now forgotten, they knew him. They forgot him.Everything is connected. He changed their lives, and they must help him change his. They must save Grian.
Relationships: Everyone & everyone except sam, Grian & Mumbo, Grian & Taurtis
Series: Sing me to sleep in your arms Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086734
Comments: 10
Kudos: 60





	1. HOwdy!

Yeah this is an intro to my fic!

Its called ‘Sing me to sleep in your arms’

Focusing on Grian and a dark past, he has troubles and accidentally falls into a world called hermitcraft, in a hurry to leave, hes spotted. And admin named Xisuma follows him to a broken world, and he swears he will help this mystery, he wants to- he needs to know, what was that world?

There is kinda Mumbo/Grian but its kinda weird. This story also has Grian & Taurtis and a lot of trauma. There will be blood and gore, but there is also soft fluff, domestic scenes and soft love, I intend it as platonic but there might be more romantic themes, (soft kisses are platonic! So are cuddles and dancing together!) I’m giving them trauma but I’m letting them recover and im giving them soft love and happiness.

I want to post at least 2 chapters a week? If I have bursts of inspo i might post like 4 or 5 a week(or day), I’m still in school so i will try my best to keep a regular schedule, i hope you stick around!

Here are the portals I’m using!

The Nether- the fire portal- like gremlins and goblins, orcs and demons, a world claimed by war

The Aether- the water portal- like ships and sea life, floating islands and space, sirens and mermaids, kelpies and serpents, a world of adventure.

The Wether- the wind portal (hehe puns)- nomades and high elves, Pegasus and hippogriffs, a world of flight, but a world of unease.

The Xether- the earth portal- dwarves and fae, centaurs and Erlkings , a land claimed by nature, a world of comfort, a world of balence and peace

The end dimension- the absence of all

The Overworld- the presence of all

The broken- no one knows, no one wants to.

(Half of these i just made up and others ive seen references on posts)


	2. Apparition

Xisuma stood with baited breath, he stared at the the forest line. 

Once again there was a hint of color, pale feathers fall tiny between the trees. A small frame looked around a tree trunk. A red sweater and blue pants, black shoes, caramel hair and a scared look on their face. A pair of battered and beaten wings rested on the persons back. The wings were a soft white with hints of blue, pink and yellow, but only the palest shades of the colors. 

The small person looked directly at Xisuma, brilliant blue eyes pierced into Xisuma. In a flash, the smaller receded. Disappearing into the forest, there was a faint flash of light, shining in pure white and glaring black.

Xisuma ran forward, jumping soundlessly over the fallen leaves, he stopped abruptly at the edge of a clearing. It felt as if the air had been pulled from his lungs. 

The person stood infront of a dark distorted form of a portal, a gleaming portal of black, it swam and snapped angrily, its unstable sides groaning from the pressure of the magic. The portal frame was made of something darker that anything Xisuma had even known, it seemed darker than the void. 

The player glanced back at Xisuma, they stepped into the dark mass, its swam and snapped around him, reaching out like a cage and dragging the person into the void like portal. 

Xisuma reached forward and tried t touch the portal. It shivered and then stopped, the portal stopped existing. All that was left was an empty hull of a portal frame.

The unnerving black reached out like claws, like bones, waiting for something sinister. If Xisuma wasnt standing under the demonic frame, he would have thought hes seen and apparition. 

Xisuma couldnt find a way to relight the portal, sighing in defeat, he heads off to Joes winery. the cryptic hermit normally had a book on...something...anything. Xisuma just wanted to know, What was that portal too?

Joe fumbled around in his library, pulling seemingly random books off the shelves. Joe was from the Aether, he had a human father but a Aether kind mother, as a result he complete access to the archives, he and Cleo had joined hermitcraft together, and they often visited Joes mother. He praises the realm often, most hermits and never seen it and he related it that movie, Treasure Planet. The air was the ocean. 

Joe handed Xisuma a pack of books, he coped up some notebooks and journals and the two were on their way. 

They flew through the nether, catching a few glances of Tango, Zedaph and Impluse seemingly trying to start a piglin fight club. It put a smile on Xisuma face. 

Joe was confused, this portal shouldn’t exist. Its not possible. The Red guardian had removed the portal. This realm was supposed to never be seen again, so why was there an empty frame of a broken portal outside Xisumas base?

“This is... X i...Ive never seen anything like this before.” Joe quickly began to sketch it in a journal. Jotting down notes about any little detail he could. 

“I think its a broken world portal.” He pulled out a page about the broken world, it wasnt much, put it was ll that the whole Aether realm had. He tossed it to Xisuma. 

=  
The broken world is a world of portals.  
Everything a world is created, its spawn portal is connected to the realm, the portals are unstable but nothing can pass through without intent.  
There is only one type of mob in the broken, a monster type, they spawn rarely. Theses mobs are just as hostile as the ender dragon and do damage equivalent of a hoglin. 

The broken is empty, watched by the Red Guardian. The Red Guardian rules the Nether and the broken, they couldn’t control both so they abandoned the broken. 

The Red Guardian closed the access portal to kept the world separate. 

Players can be sto-  
=

The page cut off, a scorched edge ended the words that caught Xisumas attention, he sighed in frustration. 

“What does this mean?” 

“Whatever used this portal,” joe ran his hands over the claw like structure, “I dont think its good.”

“But it was a person! A player! How-“ Xisuma sat down with an exasperated sigh. 

“Maybe it was...an apparition?” 

“Oh sure, maybe I’m crazy!” Xisuma was annoyed, he was curious he just wanted to know. 

“X,” Joe looked at him sternly, he was currently climbing up the black spines, looking quite ridiculous. 

“Yeah, sorry its just, ugh.”

Xisuma stood up. He paced around the frame. On the dark form, there were small carvings, pictures and runes. Words it looked like. Broken languages all formed together. Xisuma recognized some words. But it was so difficult to see. He grabbed some paper from his pack and some charcoaled and began to make a rubbing of the words. They were all different. 

“Joe, can you translate stuff?”

“Yeah what?”

“Look at these,” joe hopped down and examined the paper Xisuma held, he turned to the frame. 

“Let’s do that for the entire thing okay? Ill take them with me to try and translate.

They worked for a few hours, getting all the carving noted down, Xisuma had an impending sense of doom when he looked at the portal. It was eerily quite near the thing, no mobs anywhere. He felt drained just looking at it and it was obvious that Joe was tired to. 

“I think thats all of them, ill take these to my base and work on translating them in the morning, you go get some sleep.” 

“But i want to help,”

“You’ve done enough X, go get some sleep.” He nodded and began off towards his towers.

The walk back to his winery was calm and empty, there were no mobs, his dogs walked away from him when he crossed his fields, and a poppy turned into a wither rose when he stepped on it. That worried Joe. Must have been a glitch, right?


	3. Ignition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya know that place under the town hall? Where they sold the 12 bamboo and stuff and had the turf war board? That’s where the portals are.

Joes head was spinning, ‘what did it all mean?’ The words where a mess of stories, he sorted them out the best he could, but each story was horrific, tragedy and pain everywhere. They were all about this broken realm. 

‘Wise stories belong to only wise mean, fool only get fables.’ 

Joe pushed the papers away, he had bound a small book with all of the rubbings and translations, he stared at it, swearing he had bound it with brown leather, not grey. It didnt matter, he tucked it in his pack and made sure he had everything. He jumped off his roof and deployed his elytra, heading to the shopping district. 

Xisuma stood by the Four portals, he leaned against the cool was and waited for Joe. As he waited, the wether portal began to shift, he glanced up as Etho stepped through carefully, carrying a box and dragging a grey and blue horse behind him, it had large feathered wings that it batted around. 

“Um whatca got there?”

“Uh, spell books.” 

“That not what i-“

“Shhhhhhhh its Bdubs birthday present, you never saw this.” 

Xisuma sighed and shooed Etho off. There was a district sound of hooves clopping and a yelp, Xisuma glanced out to see Etho being dragged slowly by the winged beast, Xisuma considered helping, but decided against it, it would be a funny sight for anyone in the shopping district. 

Joe showed up a few minutes later, he nodded to Xisuma and they crossed the Aether portal together. 

The Aether was different from the other realms, with ships in the sky, on the water and under it. Joes metal wings unfurled behind him, made from the Aether elements, he couldnt bring them across the portals. Xisuma readied his eltrya as Joe closed his eyes, feeling for his mothers ship. He had a compass that pointed to her and the bond he had with her was strong enough that he could fly with ever glancing at the compass. 

“My mother is near the Cecialain Ports just south of here. Shall we be off?”

“Yeah one second,” Xisuma pressed a few buttons and let his mask adjust the air in the Aether, filtering it so he could breath.

They flew south, the water flowing slightly teal under them, floating islands the severed around, soon the ports of Cecialain came into view. 

A series of islands, tethered down to the mainland, ships passing so carelessly in the clouds.

They landed softly on the deck of the ‘Billy o’ Tea’, a tall woman spun around and smiled wide, he long hair shined nearly red in the sun and she ruffled Joes hair. 

“Back again my boy! Did ya miss me?” Xisuma could see why Joe felt to akin to Cleo now, the two were as close as siblings, and they could have been, Joes mother looked the part. 

“Mum, i need a bit of help, its not for something pleasant,” Her face darkened slightly and she lead the boys to her cabin, barking a few orders at the hearty crew. She lead them to the desk and sat down. 

“We have a broken portal on our overworld.” 

She looked at him a bit confused, “So just fix it then?”

“A portal to the broken realm, someone passed through it.” Xisuma took the book from Joes pack, flipping it open to the page where Joe had sketched the demonic looking frame.

Joes mother took the book carefully, staring at the elaborate drawing. It was silent for sever minutes. 

“Thats impossible, The Red Guardain closed it.” 

“Please,” Joe killed around a few pages, where he had a rubbing of a ship burning, “These were on the portal, and someone passed through it, help us?” 

Joes mother sat for a few moments, “Ask the Aether Gaurdian for a key to it, she may help. Her color is Blue.” Joe nodded and hugged his mother. 

“I’ll be back soon, thank you.” 

She smiled affectionately, “get going you rascal, before i regret telling you.” Joe smiled as he and Xisuma took off.

They flew north, to the long islands of Tatonaodra, where the Temples sat. 

Each realm had a temple, tall magnificent things, and each world of each realm had a smaller summoning temple, thats where they where heading. The Gaurdains looked over the realms, The Aether Gaurdain was the first, she settled in an ocean monument, the mobs there loved her, and so she named herself the Gaurdain of the realm, her sister and brothers soon followed the suit, claiming each a realm for themselves.

The flight was long, but fascinating, Joe pointed out all the strange things about the Aether and Xisuma almost got hit with an anchor twice. The clouds became thicker and colder, it was difficult to see so joe flew lower, but there was still fog. 

“Its hard to see, we’ll have to fly at water level, dont get bit.”

“What?” They lowered down and the tips of Joes wings where brushing the water, leaving small ripples behind them. There were indistinguishable shapes in the water, moving and dancing beneath them. 

There were light snaps and Xisuma glanced behind to see small fish like things, snapping their jaws angrily as they rushed past.

Joe landed gracefully on the beach, Xisuma didnt pull up in time and just rolled over the glass like sand. He graoned, tried from the flight. Joe pulled him up handing him a blue (what Xisuma assumed to be) apple. It was sweet and crisp went he bit into it. The aether really was different from his realm.

They waked along the beach to the town port, it was made of apple blue wood, with teal and pink vines. The lights glowed in soft gold and the fog settled on the water.

They waked down the lighted cobbled streets, the sun was setting and a beautiful pastel sunset shined. Infront of them, the summoning temple for the Blue Guardain stood. 

An elf like ear flicked back, its owner was obviously annoyed and worried. Infront o the, there was darkness, empty and cold. Footsteps echoing even though there was nothing. Behind the small figure, a portal stood. The same portal this monster had fallen into a few days before. But this time, there was a single grass block with a poppy on it. It mocked him, a strong symbol og his mistake. The monster sat with his back to the closed portal, he had to wait, he needed it open. He needed out, and he’d just have to avoid the other players in that world, but it was the only chance he had. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the creatures stalking him, not wanting to let his shield spell down.


	4. Unravel

Etho loosed another arrow, it flew with deadly accuracy into the target. He rolled as he landed soundlessly on the soft ground. He stayed in a denfesive crouch. 

Bdubs and Keralis cheered from behind him. He stood up and glanced at the target, five arrows less that an inch apart. 

“Dang, i wanted to split them.” 

“Better luck next time,” Doc clapped him on the back and took the bow from Etho. He claimed up the scaffolding and got ready to jump. There was a whistling and a splatt. 

[Docm77 fell from a high place]

Keralis fell over from laughing. Bdubs was wheezing and Etho just smiled and picked up the bow. Beef sighed and picked up Docs scattered items, and they heard doc huffing as he ran up the hill. 

“How did you not die? That killed me!”

“Ninja secrets.” Etho winked as Doc threw a few pieces of dirt at him. 

“When is Shishwammy gonna be back?” 

Bdubs shrugged, “He just said later, somethin’ about that thing needing to be opened.” 

Keralis was leaning against the demonic frame of the portal, he jumped forward when Bdubs gestured at it. 

“I thought that was somebody’s project! Like Doc or Etho!”

Keralis finally understood it, the carvings and the runes. He stepped into the frame, felling the notch where the actual portal would sit. It looked hollow inside the notch, black and white light swam together like marble. He ran his fingers over the notch, trying to grab the light behind the frame. 

“Keralis, What are you doing?”

“Come look at this, there light back ther-“ there was a flash of marbled white and black light and Keralis disappeared. The air turned ice cold and a bit of dark something began to bleed into the grass. 

“Uh, tell Xisuma?”

Doc fumbled with his communicator while Beef and Etho examined the portal. 

[Docm77: Xisuma Keralis was standing in the portal and he disappeared]

[Docm77: he said something about light and then it looked like he got pulled through]

[ xisuma: I'm on my way back now, Joe will finish here]

“Xisumas on his way, Is there anything there?”

“There’s weird light back in there, do you think-“

“Etho don’t touch it!” Another flash of light an Beef was thrown back from the portal, Etho was gone. 

[Docm77: Etho disspeared too] 

[Xisuma: I’ll teleport, stay out of the portal] 

They stared at the portal for a few seconds before there was a crackling of electricity and Xisuma appeared next to Doc.

Xisuma ran up to the portal, holding a piece of paper up to portal. 

He sighed and took off his helmet, tossing it to the side, he opened a small book, sloppily bound in grey leather. He tapped his filter mask a few times as he paced around, matching words and phrases. He mumbled in a language they didn’t recognize. 

“Xisuma?”

“Shishwammy?”

“I cant- I have to wait for Joe.”

“X?”

“We need a temporary key, Joes trying to get one.” 

—

Keralis coughed as he hit the ground. The air was thick but cold, there ground was black and shiny, reflecting the void like sky. The portal behind him was flickering open, he didnt move. He didnt know where he was. There was a few foot steps and Keralis looked up timidly, in front of him, a creature stood. It looked like a player, red sweater, blue jeans, messy blond hair. But large skeletal wings, a heavy tail and a set of horns, the player-thing huffed, eyes of white narrowing. 

Behind him the portal flickered, Etho appeared, standing defensive and shocked.

“Um, Keralis? Who this?” 

“I could ask you that.” 

The player-creature, looked at them. It flicked it tail and walked around them, staring them up and down. 

“Um, hello?” The creature shuffled back as Etho stepped from the portal. Its tail flicked wildly. Its wings fluttered around. 

Etho pulled Keralis upright.

"What's that sound?" There was very faint scraping and screeching. Faint hissing and growling. The duo backed up to the portal. Etho ran his hands along the inside of the frame, looking for the light. 

"Keralis, there's no light."

The two where standing in the empty frame of the portal. Watching the creature before them. It stoodstill, seemingly unbothered by the demonic sounds echoing in the vast emptiness. Quietly it spoke. With a voice that danced the edge between angelic and demonic. 

"You shouldnt be here." 

Etho served his pockets for anything, his pack had been tore away when he passed in the portal.

At the sound of the monsters voice, there was the sound of gals cracking. Around them, like the sky was falling, golden cracks covered the sky like lightening. Its shattered and fell. Raining down over their heads, and the sky was replaced by the void. 

The scree ch ingw as louder, creatures crawling close. The player-thing looked at them. It realised a bolt of light, spearing Keralis through the neck. Etho stummboed back as his friends body dissipated. 

"Whta the hell?" 

"You need to go. They do much worse than me." The screeching was closing, Etho could see eyes in the misty darkness. 

"Wait wait wait-" etho fumbled as the creature stepped forward. The was bother burst of the light and Etho scampered back. The beam stabbed through his stomach. It felt like fire in his veins, molten heat tearing through him.

Etho tried to pulled away, but another beam shot down, piercing through his neck, the last thing he saw before he reopened was hundreds of creatures flooding in, all focused on the player before him.


	5. Wake up

Xisumas heart dropped when the notification came. 

[Keralis was slain by ^unknown source^ ]  
[Etho was slain by ^unknown source^ ] 

Doc and Bdubs stopped to look at the message, dread filling their lungs. 

Beef ran. He looked at the message and ran, yelling to Xisuma that he was heading to Ethos base, hoping his friend would respawn and be alright. 

Xisuma himself started off towards Keralis’s base, he hoped his bee buddy was okay. 

Beef ran up the uneven steps of Ethos base, he skipped the hallways and just climbed into the room where Etho had his bed tucked away. 

There was a thud as Beef fell through the window. He stood up, glancing around the dark room. Even with the window, it was as if the light had been pulled away. Beef stumbled over to the bed, there was a recognizable lump curled up in it? 

"Etho? E?" Beef kneeled at the side of the bed, he gently shook his friend. There was no response. 

"Etho?" Still nothing. He fumbled in his pack and lit a lantern as fast as he could, it was like a single match in the void. Barely light. It seemed to be absorbed by the darkness. 

Beef lit a few more, there was faint light now and he could see Etho more clearly. 

The white hair male was laying on his covers, his headband was crooked and his mask and slipped down. There was a dark scar on his throat, and a large tear in the stomach of his vest. Beef could see the large scar underneath the ripped fabric. 

"Etho? Come on." Beef pulled the smaller closer to him. He was absolutely freezing, his skin felt like ice. Beef wrapped him in the covers and picked him up carefully. He couldnt leave Etho here. He grabbed Ethos pack from the floor and headed off to his resort, he could keep Etho warm there. 

Xisuma landed in front of Keralis office building. He ran up the stair as fast as he could. He tripped over the carpets in the halls.

He shoved open the door to Keralis's bedroom unceremoniously. The room was dark and dim. But he could still see. 

Keralis was on his bed, Xisuma audibly sighed. Keralis was here. He was okay. 

"Keralis?" There was no response. 

"Keralis?" Xisuma leaned over his friends form. He just looked like he was asleep. Gently, he went to shake Keralis awake but pulled his hand back immediately. 

Keralis was ice cold. His skin felt like it had a film of frost on it. Xisuma carefully tried to shake Keralis again. Keralis had a indented scar on his throat. It looked like it had healed years ago, but Xisuma knew it wasnt there the day before. Carefully, he wrapped up Keralis in any blankets he could find. 

There was the familiar zoop of teleportation and Xisuma stood up in his base, he held Keralis against his chest. His friend shuttered at the nauseating teleportation and tried to curl against Xisumas warmth. 

Xisuma carefully took Keralis to his room. He tucked him into his bed, with plenty of blankets. His own base was a bit cold so Xisuma turned up the heat, he quickly lit the small fire place. 

It was too hit for him, Xisuma had shed his armor and just donned his filter mask. He sat by Kerlais as his friend slept. 

Beef was trapped in his own room. He knew Etho well enough to know the smaller liked to wrap up in blankets and he ahd made a small nest for Etho to curl up in, he had even put magma blocks under the nest, but Etho was still shivering, so he had stupidly crawling in nevmxt to him and was now swarmed with blankets and Etho had curled up on top of Beef, keeping toasty. 

Beef reached over and grabbed his communicators he better tell Xisuma he ahd Etho. 

[Beef: I have Etho, something wrong with him, hes really cold and wont wake up. I have him in basically a heat pod but he's still cold.]

There was a few moments before the chat responded. 

[Xisuma: same thing with Keralis, hes smothering me.]

[RenDog: wait what happened?] 

[Mumbo: Did I miss something?] 

[Cub: was there an accident?] 

[Doc: did you not see the death messages before?] 

[False: who died, when?] 

[Cleo: I didnt get any message]

[Iskall: X what's wrong] 

[Xisuma: things happened, I'll debrief you all later] 

[Stress: I can come up there with potions if you need me to X or Beef] 

[Beef: is there a way to set someone on fire without hurting them, I'm getting heat stroke but Etho is still cold.] 

[Stress: ...fire resistance...] 

[Xisuma: we are NOT setting anyone on fire.] 

Beef laughed at his friends antics, he looked down at Etho. The smaller curled under Beefs arms. Still slightly shivering. 

[Beef: okay I feel like I'm gonna die, what done do with Etho, I'm getting heat stroke.] 

[Stress: I'll be there in a minute, I have a few ideas]  
[Stress: x do you want to being Keralis so I can look after both of them?] 

[Xisuma: I'll teleport] 

Stress arrived after a few minutes, she had a few shulkers in her pack. 

"Its toasty in here! Are you okay luv?" Stress kneeled by the practically dying Beef. 

"Oh just fine." 

She smiled at him. "I've brought mumbo along, were gonna set up a heat pool out side for Etho and Keralis m'kay?" 

Beef nodded and she headed out. 

Mumbo sat in the hole he'd dug, he was careful lying laying down redstone dispensers. It had to be perfect.

Stress was handing him red stone parts, ,making sure he had what he needed, after a few minutes, he ahd a working system. 

They began to lay down the magma blocks and lava. Carefully stocking the dispensers with fire resistance. Mumbo sighed and nodded at stress. He broke a fire resistance potion on himself and stepped into the lava. 

"Well I think it works." The redstone fired, detecting his weight and moving aside the harmful magma blocks floor in favor of a heated stone one. Right before the potion wore off, another fire resistance was splashed on him. 

"I'll go get the others." Stress headed to Beefs resort, worrying he had heat stroke. 

Within 5 minutes, Beef walked out carrying Etho. Stress was behind him holding a shoulder box. Xisuma was with them too, holding Keralis. 

She splashed the two with fire resistance and after much reassurance for Xisuma, Mumbo helped her set them in the little lava beds. 

Stress then set up Keralis and Beef, setting out beds and tucking it in the shade, the two were sat down forcibly by Stress. They were about 3 feet away from the other two, but Beef still laid on the grass, resting his hand on Ethos head. 

Xisuma tucked himself in a small crater filled with water. He was over heating in the grass, but he trusted Beef to not let the two die.

"Come on Etho, just wake up." 

In the broken, the creature sat. Its clothes torn and its wings hung limply, unusable and broken. It leaned against the portal. Wondering why it had dropped its barrier to turn its attention to the two players. 

It turned back to the portal, a faint hope that maybe, they come back and it'd be able to pass through.


	6. Void speak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no clue how long this chapter is but it feels short :(
> 
> And oh boy do i have plans

The creature grasped wildly at the portal, it reached out, pushing itself through the portal. 

It rolled onto the grass, gasping in the fresh air. Behind the portal flickered close. The frame sagged and cracked. The creature didnt have time to pull itself away when the heavy frame fell onto its crushed body. 

Xisuma heard his admin screen ping. He glanced over. 

[Unknown player joined the game]

Xisuma stood up fast, casting a final glance at the two on the heat pool. He shook his worry away and headed off to the broken portal. It would be there. It had to be.

Xisuma ran silently to the forest, it would look strange to anyone who saw him, all he had was his filter mask a white T-shirt and a pair of joggers. Still he ran to the forest dodging cracking branches and jumping over crunching leaves. He ran silently. Xisuma ran as fast as he could, he could see the edge of the clearing, he could see the natural break in the leaves, he sped upTo get there faster, but then he hit some thing-

He fell back hard, eyes blurring and world becoming double for a few seconds. He sat up slowly, holding his aching head. He looked up to see what he had hit, there was nothing there. Exuma reached out, there was a barrier between him and the clearing, as soon as he touched it it felt like ice was running in his veins. It crawled through his skin leaving blue Frost over his hands, he fumbled with his communicator, hoping to send a plea for help. 

[Xisuma: partiol hsa barrrriaer]  
[Xisuma: ice help]

Xisuma Glanced up to see where the portal should be, between believes he saw a dark mound of rubble, and peeking out some under the ruins, a few feathers could be seen. 

[Xisuma: player creature thnig i saw ebfore]

[Stress: X are you okay?]

Frost crawled up his arm, leaving it frozen and unusable, his nerves fired at random, searing pain shot through his arm as the frost crawled up his chest and neck. The grass around him was starting to turn black, flowers turned into with the roses, and he could see the barrier, it was slightly blue, behind it the grass was completely black, tress decayed as the stood. 

[Xisuma: Help]

[Xisuma froze to death]

What Xisuma opened his eyes, he was surrounded with heat. It took a moment to register but he was tucked into the side of the heat pool, Keralis was leaning against his side, Beef was sitting at the edge with Etho, dazed and barely awake in his lap. Keralis himself was slightly awake his eyes fluttered open occasionally. Around him the sun was setting but floating lanterns were hanging up, a fence around the area. 

Wels, Hels, Bdubs and TFC sat around a campfire, Tango was stretched across Implsue and Zedaphs laps, the NetherBorn was contently purring as Zedaph petted his tail and Impluse braided his hair. Cleo was sitting on the ground, Joe was leaning in her lap, pointing out thing in his book, Xisuma sighed with relief that he was back. 

“Stress? What’s happened?” Stress jumped up at the sound of her name. She kneeled down beside Xisuma. 

“x oh thank the void, you were almost as bad off as these two.”

“What?”

“You died and respawned in your tower, Iskall went to get you and you were cold and wouldn’t wake up, he brought you here, you’ve been asleep for 2 days.” 

Xisuma almost jumped out of the comfy lava. 

“Two days?? The thing! The player thing in the rubble!” 

“Mumbo and Scar went to get it, X. Its not great news.” 

Xisuma felt Keralis shift, the man cuddling closer to Xisumas warmth, he buried his head in the crook of Xisumas neck and shuffled into his lap. 

“That thing isn’t a player or mob. It respwans where it dies, it is intelligent and it drops things when it dies.” Stress handed Xisuma a small, strange shaped object, it looked like a rabbit but was made of something dark and smooth, it features were wore away. Another object, a small blue doll, no features at all. 

“Where is it?” 

Stress looked a bit uncomfortable, “get your armor on and ill show you.”

After a few minutes, Stress and Xisuma headed on their way, they walked past a few memos and hills, it was about a 20 minute walk, and then there was a small bunker type thing. Stress ushered him inside. 

They went down a Mumbo patented elevator, into a large room. Its walls where made of obsidian and there where 4 layers of bars before them. Mumbo and Scar stood to the side. Doc was working behind what seemed to be a control panel. Jevin stood inside all the layers of bars, he was decked out in amour and was cautiously trying to heal the creature. 

“Jev? What are you doin?”

“Working? Jevin didn’t sound to sure himself.

Xisuma grabbed the bars and rattled them harshly, as if trying to see if they would pop out of place

“X, we dont know what it is.” 

he turned around with a dark glare, “Whatever it is, it doesn’t deserve to be trapped and treated like an animal.” “Keralis told us what it did, its dangerous!” 

“What if it cant do things in the over world? Like how Joe and Cleo cant bring their wings across portals? Like how Tango takes damage every time he reenters the overworld? Like how Iskall cant take his axe across the portals? Like how i cant breath? Like how Etho can’t take his powers and he is rendered just a human here?” Xisumas eyes flashed a dangerous purple and the others relented, opening the cage. He stepping inside to get a look at the creature. 

It was the same one. Large wings pale in color, caramel wings, red sweater and blue jeans. The creature was sitting on the floor, seemingly dazed. Xisuma glanced over Jevins ‘not great but okay’ job of splinting the broken wing. Xisuma reached forward to help th creature up, as soon as he had grabbed it, it spoke. 

The voice was haunting. It rang in Xisumas ears, a language he hadn’t heard in a long time. It spoke in Void tongue. Xisuma froze as the creature babbled half pleas to be let go. Xisuma tried to process everything. 

“ -I’m not going to hurt you, I’m going to help you.- “ Xisuma was rusty in void speak, but it was his first language. 

The creature looked at him with wide eyes, he knew everyone else was looking at him too. 

“ -you sound like my old guide- “ 

“ -a guide? I have a twin brother- “ 

“ Xexon? “ the creatures voice was garbled and broken, it sounded like demons screeching or angles singing, Xisuma couldnt tell the difference. 

“ -thats my brother- Xexon -I’m- Xisuma -what’s your name?”

“ Grian. “

“ -do you know English?- “

“ -no- “

Xisuma nodded “ -Ill make you a translator- “ he continued to talk to Grian, slowly giving leading him out of the cage and up to ground level, he shot some very menacing glares at Doc every time he pointed back to the cage. 

Grian was scared. He didnt know these people, he didnt know what was happening. But the stranger spoke in void, the stranger was his guides twin brother. He could trust him, right? He probably could. But could probably trust the other people as well. If Xisuma trusted him. Except that Creeper and that tall moustached one, they where scary, they seemed familiar. Grian didn’t like them.


	7. Dont break the wings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ight so Hels is a rude feral bastard in this(same tbh) but hes also a worried goofy moron who can be quite stupid (sameeeee)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little lore ig  
> Guides are picked by the guardians to guide player who have died in permadeath worlds to a new world, players are gathered in groups of 6 and have 6 guides. If there is an imbalance, the players are dammed.

Grian was curled up in a blanket, Stress was sitting a few feet away, sliding him horrendously sweet snacks when Xisuma wasnt looking, despite the language barrier, the two seemed to understand each other. Xisuma sat at his desk dilligently working on the translator.

Grian would say a few things occasionally, normally asking Xisuma about the world he was in. X gladly replied. The other hermits were curious about Grian and tended to stop in to see what progress Xisuma had made with the translator. Grian would garble questions at them and Xisuma would answer. It had taken a few hours of just begin around Stress and Cleo but Grian wasnt as scared of them now. Especially since he was with Xexons brother. 

Grian however, did not like Mumbo. When the taller walked into the room, Grian dove under the desk and hissed, his large wings sticking out.

“Mumbo! Get out!” Xisuma ushered Mumbo out of the door. “ Grian -its okay, you dont need to hide from anyone here- “

“ -damming guide- “

Xisuma kneeled down to look at the Grian, the smaller’s eyes where white, a strange glowing light was behind them. “ -what’s wrong? Grian, why does Mumbo scare you?- “

“ -damning guide left us, let the creatures catch us. The other guides couldnt help, there was an imbalance. I fell.- “

Xisuma leaned back, he knew vaguely about the guides, with Xexon being chosen and all. Xexon and been so excited, the chance to travel all the worlds without the danger, the chance to be safe but still adventurous. Xexon took the chance in a heart beat, leaving Xisuma behind. 

Xisuma knew to leave it at that, he didnt want to push Grian. He sat down on the floor, putting himself between Grian and the door. He grabbed the translator and began to add the finishing touches, linking the ear pieces and mask together in code. 

Grian slowly began to crawl out from under the desk, he inched his way across the floor, wings laying flat as he slowly made his way to Xisuma. 

“ -do you ever see Xexon?- “ 

Xisuma smiled under his mask. “ -sometimes if i call, hes busy a lot- “ Xisuma tinkered with the mask for a few seconds. 

“ -here, try this on- “ Xisuma slipped the mask over Grians head, fiddling with the clips so it sat securely. He helped Grian put on the ear pieces too. Clipping them onto the base of his sensitive horns. He let Grian feel the mask and ar pieces before he flicked them on. 

“Can you understand me?” 

“Yes, i can.” Grian looked up with wide eyes. Startled by the sound of his voice through the mask. 

“Perfect! Let’s get you introduced to the others.”

Grian walked behind Xisuma as they traveled down to the town hall. His wings were tucked tightly against his sides, the mask fitted over his face like Xisumas filter mask, and the ear pieces were clasped under his horns. 

As they neared the town hall, Grian could hear the people. A lot of them. He recognized Stress and the creeper one. He could hear them talking. The sounds of laughter struck a chord with him, and he couldnt stop himself from thinking about a distant world. He didnt know what it was, the details long since faded. It felt happy, like home. Maybe that was the reason he didn’t run away at the sight of the tall mustached man. 

“Everyone! This is Grian! The newest hermit!” 

Grain waved weakly, still hovering behind Xisuma.

The hermits turned their attention to him, he inched behind Xisuma a bit more. There were so many of them. All of them with eltrya and impressive armour. Grian was pulled from his thoughts as a tall, red man ran up, he had a heavy tail and sharp jagged horns. He stood a bit to close to Grian and was bouncing on his heels. 

"I'm Tango!" Grian was terrified, his eyes wide and his long pointed ears were pinned down, he had a death grip on Xisumas armour. 

"Give him space Tango." A pair of arms wrapped around tangos waist and pulled him of the ground. The holder of a feral Tango began to walk backwards, letting Grian have his space. 

"Sorry about him,he gets over excited." The one talked was a smaller man. He had blonde hair and tanned skin. A pair a curled horns sat on his head and lamb ears peaked through his messy hair. He wore a nice cardigan and no pants, instead he had a set of sheep legs. Thick curly wool and a long tail. His hooves clipped nearly against the stone. "I'm Zedaph and the Tango wrangler is Impluse." 

"Wrangling a Tango does seem to be quite the challenge." Grian quipped back, not really thinking about his response and more focused of the scene before him. 

"I'm a delightful person!" Tango was currently being trapped by Impluse. The taller was holding his arm in one hand, his tail in another and had trapped Tangos legs under his own. The netherborn squirmed for a few moments before giving up and letting Impluse throw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. 

"Why are you so flexible? I swear your spine is a slinky."

The hermits introduced themselves. A few were more laid back than the others. One named Beef just handed him a llama mask, saying nothing. Another called Joe started talking in what Grian thought was tongues, but was just rhymes. Stress introduced him to the other girls, who he politely told that they terrified him. The twins, Wels and Hels came up and Grian almost punched a very flirty Hels. Wels was nice tho.

Grian was curious by nature. He just wanted to know everything. Interesting things caught his eye and he would just ignore everything in favor of the shiny new distraction. In this instance, it was two people. One with a bright vest, and another with a mask and head band, the two he killed in the broken. 

He wanted to ask them, how they got there, why they were there, he wanted to know about them. But it was slightly unnerving to have a demonic looking creature just staring at you. The pair backed up, hiding behind their friends. 

The little demon, as Etho had to kindly dubbed the newest hermit, looked slightly sad as Etho and Keralis hid from it, but they had good reason. Grian had killed them! With weird magic stuff! It leaves a lasting mental image! 

“I’m sorry, the portal closed, i had to get you out.” Grians ears were down, his wings drooping at his sides, his tail sat heavily at his side, he kept his eyes down. “I didnt mean to hurt you.” 

“Why, why didnt you open the portal?”

“I’m not sure what it takes to open the portal. I’m not sure i have the power.” 

It was quite for a second, Xisuma came to steer the conversation back to a happier topic. 

“Okay! So! On to a different topic! Where do you want to settle? There’s some very open badlands if you want to fly.” Grian held the map gently, scanning over the greens and browns. He pointed to a spot on the map, were some mountains met the jungle. 

“Its a nice spot! Iskall and Stress are around there!” Grian nodded as Xisuma began talking about the potential of the area. 

Slowly the crowd began to dissipate, Stress offered to fly Grian to his chosen spot, he timidly refused. Not wanted into be a burden on the hermits.

The land blurred as he flew, powerful wings sending him across the sky. The clouds marbled above him as he flew, the damp air clung to his feathers and chilled his bones. He began to glide down, the spot was just ahead and he could see the start of the other hermits bases. A very pink village, a magical looking village that Grian flew around several times, there was a huge tree trunk and 8 strange wrench things. He landed on the top of one of them, there looked to be the start of a tower on the ground, and in it- 

Grian looked dead in his eyes, he knew that it wasnt the guide, he knew. And yet he still ran. He threw himslef from the top of the structure and sped to his spot. He rolled softly onto the ground. The area was at the edge of the jungle, where the montains met the jungle. 

There was no good spot for a starter base there, so he reluctantly receded into the jungle. It wasnt far to a small nook in the hills, he smiled to himslef as he started to bulid, a small underground base. 

Grian built mindlessly, occasionally he caught himself, asking questions to a person who wasnt there, to a person he didn’t remember, he hummed softly to himself. 

Something reminded him about this person, this person he didnt know. He had the vivid thought off two birds on a wire. A caramel bird tried to fly, a blue one watches, tweeting a soft song, saying he wants to leave too, but that bird is a liar. The caramel bird comforts him, never wanting to leave. 

The caramel bird tweets it’s traveling call and the blue response that his tired. Still one refuses to leave the other. Two birds of a feather, says that they will always be together, but one will never let go of that wire, hes says that he wants to be he is liar. 

Grian feels tears on his face as he works, why was so special about those birds? He’s concerned. But he cant do much now. Grian had just finished the small base, he goes out into the jungle, and catches a blue parrot. 

He holds the bird at eye level, it chirps softly in his hands, “You. Who do you remind me of?” When the bird doesn’t answer, he set it on his shoulder and walks to his base, it was his pet now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: I’m gonna make Xexon a bastard!  
> Also me: but an emotional support bastard? 👉👈
> 
> Also should have OCs or should i use Dream SMP characters for minor roles? (like in Grians flashbacks) bc i will be mentioning YHS and Evo but Sam and Taurtis are the only actual characters.


	8. Here we settle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I swear we will get to Mumbo and Grian being friends, it just takes time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of angst :)

Mumbo sighed as the sun set, he had been working hard on his base, the tower was slowly rising from the ground. In the distance, he could see Iskalls Omega Tree keep growing. He sighed as the pink clouds covered the horizon, there was still about an hour of light left before the phantoms came out, he decided to capitalize on the light left and started on his way to Iskalls. 

He landed not so gracefully on the wood floor, Iskalls laughter echoed around the huge tree trunk. 

“10/10, i think you have truly perfected the art of landing.”

“Thank you, i really do try.” 

Mumbo clambered down the tree, jumping from half finished branch to half finished branch. Iskall expertly swung from branches and vines to meet him halfway. 

“What brings you to this neck of the woods?” 

Mumbo brushed his suit jacket down, tossing stray leaves at Iskall, “I was wondering if you wanted to visit Grian?”

Iskall shrugged, “Yeah, why not. I wanna see if hes got a bulid yet.” Mumbo ginned lopsidedly at Iskall and pulled up his elytra. 

The two took off quickly, spinning in the air as they glided down to the nook where Grian had settled. When they landed, there was a small house built into the cliff face. Iskall spotted Grian buliding a grandfather clock inside.

“There he is! Lets go see him!” Iskall and Mumbo headed inside, they slipped silently past the door. Carefully, they crept up the stairs, Grian was too immersed in the workings of his clock to notice. 

“Grian?” 

The blond didn’t respond, he just kept working with the delicate workings of the clock. 

“Grian?”

The smaller wasnt wearing his translator, but he was softly humming in a garbled tone. 

“Grian.” Mumbo reached forward and grabbed the winged males shoulder. The reaction was instant. 

A burst of energy knocked the wind out of Mumbo and Iskall. Grian spun around at breakneck speed. Within a second, his small hands had something black dripping from them, the liquid hardened into claws and he pinned Mumbo down with unseen strength. 

“ISKALL?” There were red spots on Mumbos dress shirt where Grians claws pierced the skin. Iskall drew his sword, he stabbed expertly, the blade sliding under Grians wing, over the delicate limbs and notching itself between his ribs. 

Grian shrieked. Loud and shrill, the the world seemed to stop as well as sound for a second. Iskall was shocked, he was frozen in place, he instantly registered Grian as a threat. He jumped forward, using his blade to pry Grian off Mumbo and trap him under his feet. Iskall landed heavily, pale feathers crumpling under his boots. 

Grian writhed. He grabbed Iskalls leg, the claws shooting through his muscle to the bone, and threw him off to the side. Grian scrambled up, he gasped as he struggled to stand, without much ceremony, he yanked the blade out of his side. 

Iskall had not realized what he’d done until Grian hissed at him, without the translator, his words sounded slightly like what Xisuma spoke occasionally, but in a way that Iskall or Mumbo had never heard-

“ I ℸ ̣ 𝙹ꖎ↸ ||𝙹⚍ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ꖎᒷᔑ⍊ᒷ -Sam- W⍑|| ↸╎↸ ||𝙹⚍ ʖ∷╎リ⊣ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ⊣⚍╎↸ᒷ? wᒷ∷ᒷリ’ℸ ̣ ||𝙹⚍ ↸𝙹リᒷ?”

—

Neither Iskall nor Mumbo moved for quite sometime. It was long enough from Mumbo to stop bleeding and for a small blood puddle to form under Iskalls leg. 

“Iskall? Did you recognize any of that?”

The Swede shook his head, he was staring at the trail of blood Grian had left. 

“Iskall? We need to tell Xisuma,” iskall nodded numbly, “Come one, lets fix that leg.” Mumbo handed iskall some health potions. The Swede just held them for a moment, zoned out.” 

“Iskall, come one.” 

“yeah, yeah, right of course.” 

—

Stress was calmly working went she heard it. An ear piercing scream. It rang out all around her, filling the air. She dropped the barrel of healing potions she held. They all spilled out onto the ground and began to grow the most twisted, gnarled, darkest plants she’d ever seen. And then there was silence, she could hear her blood rushing and her heart beating. She stayed in the same spot for who knows how long, only pulled out of her thoughts by something haphazardly flying overhead, and crashing down into the jungle just outside her base. 

She grabbed her emergency pack and ran, moving through the jungle quickly, until she found where the creature had landed. 

It wasnt a creature at all, it was Grian? He had fallen and slid, leaving a trail behind him in the jungle floor. His wings were crumpled around him and there was blood staining the feathers. 

She dropped to her knees next to Grian, gently rolling him over. There was a large wound on his side, definitely from a sword.It gashed through his wing too, leaving the muscle sliced open and exposed. And his wings, they where bent horribly, taken huge amounts of damage from the fall, the first joints of his wings were completely crushed, like something had been dropped on them. 

The sun was setting, Stress could hear the zombies in the trees, but she couldn’t move Grian by herself, Mumbo and Iskall weren’t known for answering their communicators and Ren was to far away, Scar was doing something with Cub, there was no one near by. 

She tossed down torches quickly, and built a small wall around them, the jungle was dense but Grians landing had made a small clearing for her to work. She had to heal him, what if respawn worked differently with him? He a wasnt exactly a player after all.

Grian woke up as she built the small wall. He was in to much pain and was far to tried to move, he watched Stress carefully.

“Grian? Youre awake?” Stress kneeled by his side, “I’m gonna set your wings okay? That way they heal correctly, this will hurt.”

Stress gently stretched out his wings, careful to not injure them more. They were past what she could do with potions, maybe Cleo could help, or Xisuma? She fumbled with her communicator, she’d be glad for any help honestly. 

[Stress: anyone near my base? Grian took a lot of damage and fell into the jungle]

[Scar: what happened?]

[Stress: i dont know, there’s a sword wound that opened his wing, i think thats why he fell]

[Cub: scar and i are on our way]

[Ren: me and Doc too] 

She tossed her comm aside and grabbed some bandages and antiseptic. She couldnt risk a healing potion with the state of the wings, if they healed like that, they would have to be rebroken to be fixed correctly. Carefully she cleaned the sword wound on Grians side, it went deep, definitely hitting major organs. 

There was a sound of rockets and Stress let out a breath she didnt realize she was holding. Ren dropped ontop of the dirt wall she had thrown together, Doc landed with a loud thud next to Stress.

Grian growled as Doc reached for his wing. Stress stoped him.

“Grian, love, hes not going to hurt you, he’s here to help you.” 

Grian spoke painfully in garbled galactic, “ Hᒷ’ᓭ ᓭᓵᔑ∷|| -Netty-“ 

“Netty?” “-Stress-“ 

She smiled softly at him, “Doc is going to set your wings okay? Once we get them in the right place we can use some healing potions.” 

“Uh, cant we just kill him and let him respawn?” 

“REN!” Doc barked at the (definitely not) furry, “We dont know how respawn works with him! We can risk it!” There were more rockets and Cub and Scar landed on the wall across from Ren. 

“Okay! Ive got crystals but they only work on single wounds, not like heali-“

“Thank the void Scar! That’s what we needed!” Stress pulled Scar over to Grians side, the winged blonde looked at them with wide eyes. He garbled slightly. 

“ W⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ⎓⚍ᓵꖌ ᔑ∷ᒷ ℸ ̣ ⍑𝙹ᓭᒷ? -Stress?- w⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ’ᓭ ⊣𝙹╎リ⊣ 𝙹リ?” 

“Uh these will help heal you?” Scar fumbled, he really didnt know what to do, “uhh T⍑ᒷᓭᒷ ⍑ᒷᔑꖎ, ⍑ᒷꖎ!¡ ⎓╎ ̇/ ᓭℸ ̣ ᔑʖ?” The galactic he spoke was broken, but it made enough sense.

Grian nodded and scar dropped to his knees, lightly pressing the crystal to Grians open wound and whispering in old galactic. Slowly the crystal began to flood blue, and Grian relaxed slightly, the pain lessened. 

“Okay I’m gonna set his wings now?” 

“be careful.” Doc nodded as he slowly guided the wings out to their full span, Grian garbled half words and began to tear up.

“Hey hey, its okay, we just gotta set them okay?” Stress grabbed Grians hand and he clung to it like a lifeline, “Cub, can you go find his translator, I think he came from his base. It over in the grove north of here.” Cub nodded and took off. Stress turned back to Grian, trying to keep him focused on her as Doc moved the broken bones around. 

—

“Xisuma? We fucked up.” Mumbo cringed as Xisuma looked at them, Iskall just refused to even look at the admin. 

“What’s happened.” Xisuma sounded not angry, but not gentle. He didnt ask as much as demanded. 

“Um, we went to go see Grian, uh and sort of spooked him? There was a little bit of a fight and Grian flew off.” 

Xisuma huffed, “Look at your comms.” 

Mumbo opened his with shaky hands and Iskall visibly winced at the messages. 

“I didnt go because i had to run over Grians code to make sure he could respawn. A sword wound? Iskall?”

The Swede kept looking at the floor, not daring to make eye contact with Xisuma. “What did you do.” 

Mumbo tried his best, he really did. “It- he- he thought Grian was gonna hurt me, he just reacted! I’m sure he didnt mean to hurt him badly!” 

“Iskall...”

“I just- i kinda ment to? I thought he was a threat and it just happened before i really knew what i did.” 

Xisuma sighed, he pulled off his mask. “look, I’m sure it will be fine, ive called Xexon to come because if Grian trusted us before, he probably doesn’t now.” Xisuma huffed, tossing his helmet on a couch as he went back to the codes, 

“Okay, I’m not that mad at you two, Iskall i know that it was a instinct and i know there’s not a lot you could have done to not react like that, but Mumbo, i told you specifically to just wait,” Xisuma turned around in the chair, really filling the ‘lecturing dad’ role all to well. “I’m not mad, I’m just... disappointed. You two really owe Grian an apology.” 

Iskall and Mumbo nodded and Xisuma pointed them off to the kitchen, telling them to eat something or he’d actually be mad. ‘ deprave yourself and ask for pity’

There was a loud crash from where Xisuma was working and the two heard a very distinct voice. 

“WHERE IS THE CHILD?” 

“Oh void, Xexon hes not a child, just follow me.” There was more clattering and Xisuma walked into the main room with a red Xisuma? It was Xexon, the guide was fuming, obviously in a hurry as Xisuma fumbled with his helmet.  
“You two, stay here until we’re back.”

“We? Nope, I’m staying with the menace.” 

“No, we are coming back because they have something to explain to you.” 

Xexon shot a death glare at Mumbo and Iskall, “Well then, i look forward to it.” He stiffly turned and took off after Xisuma. 

“hes gonna kill us.” 

“Yeah.”

Iskall put hes head dow on the table, he was zoning out when something into caught his eye. A white rabbit on the balcony of Xisumas tower, he blinked and it disappeared. ‘Huh, must be lack of sleep.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohohoho Xexon look at him go


	9. Call it caution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Xexon got big Deus Ex Machina energy my dudes

Xexon was enraged when he first showed up, but he quickly shifted to a side that Xisuma had never seen.

Grian was on the ground. Doc was carefully rolling out his mangled wings, slowly pushing the shattered bones to near where they should be. Grian was clinging to Stress, the liquid that ran down his hands, hardening into twisted restraints around Stress’s arms.

Xexon gently kneeled by him, whispering in galactic trying to calm him. The blonde let the restraints drip away as he reached out for Xexon.

“ I’ᒲ ⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ ᓵ⍑╎ꖎ↸, i’ᒲ ⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ.” Xexon carefully picked Grian up, the smaller curled up against his chest. He glowed a soft purple, his hands being the main centre of the light. He ran his hands over the joints where Grians wings met his back. Slowly, the wings relaxed and dropped what little strength they had, laying limp on the ground.

“They’re numb now, it will hurt less to fix now,” Xexon pulled some unseen items from thin air, and passed them to Doc. “Just try to splint with these, they will help the bones reform.”

Doc nodded and began to stretch the wings again, snapping the long purple items over the ruined bones. Xexon ran his fingers through Grians bloody hair, the smaller purred under his touch, nudging at Xexons hand with his horns. Xexon smiled sadly, he cooed at Grian, mimicking bird sounds that he knew calmed Grian down.

When Grian was finally awake and not panicking, he was curled up in a blanket fort in his base. The heat was on high and he could smell coffee brewing in the other room. There was the distant sound of someone bumbling around in the kitchen, talking quickly and quietly with someone else.

Grian crawled forward, ignoring the twinges of pain in his wings. He stayed close to the ground, looking like a very large cat as he silently made his way to the kitchen. Right before the kitchen door, Grian crawled up the wall, hang upside down in his circle hallway, he slipped into the kitchen, having from the ceiling like a bat as he lowered himself down behind Xexon.

“Back to chaos so soon?” Xexon’s eyes shined through his mask, he reached back to ruffle Grians hair, the little gremlin dropped from the ceiling and draped himself over Xexons shoulders, purring slightly as he watched Xisuma stand confused on the other side of the room.

The blond chirped, letting himself slide onto the counter, he crouched infront of the coffee pot, grabbing his signature bright blue coffee mug from the cabinet and settling down to wait for the coffee. Xexon stood behind Grian, running his hands over Grain’s sore joints. “So ive heard you’ve been here 4 days, you’ve made quite the impression.”

”I ∷ᒷᒲᒷᒲʖᒷ∷ ᓭ𝙹ᒲᒷ ∴𝙹∷↸ᓭ リ𝙹∴! i ∷ᒷᒲᒷᒲʖᒷ∷ ᒷリ⊣ꖎ╎ᓭ⍑!” 

“That’s great! Do you still need that translator?” 

“-Sometimes-“ 

Xisuma smiled, Grian seemed relaxed with Xexon here, he seemed like a normal person, like he wasnt half dead yesterday. 

“Do you want my help on your base today? I know you want to build.” Xexon petted Grians wings, smoothing the ruffled feathers. 

Grian nodded, he grabbed a notepad from the counter and began to sketch, within a few minutes he had drawn a hunge mansion with fountains and walkways and gardens. 

“We can get started on that today, want me to collect some resources?” Grain nodded again and went back to drawing, this time he was plotting out the interior. “Oh Grian? I’m going t go to Xisumas base for an hour or so? Ill be back soon, okay?” The blonde nodded, “Thanks bud. See you soon.” 

Xisuma and Xexon flew fast, Xisuma was having trouble keeping up, Xexon was streamlining, holding himself as close as he could, definitely using a few creative mode quirks. 

They landed on the balcony of Xisuma main tower, the twins tossed off their helmets as they entered the artificial thin air of the base. 

Xisuma nodded fo Xexon to follow him, in the living room, Mumbo and Iskall sat on the couch, looking equally parts stressed and guilty. Xexon just looked at them for a few seconds. 

“It’s barely been 4 days.” Xexon was definitely angry, Xisuma backed out of the room slightly, he knew his brother had an amazingly short temper. He ended up taking refuge in his office while Xexon lectured the two in the living room. He focused himself on the codes, reinforcing Grians code to ensure that the smaller _could_ respawn. He spotted something that was familiar but dangerously out of place. 

A small piece of code, not in the order it should be, if it was even supposed to be there. It matched slightly to Doc and Ren, it looked like a mob attributes code. It was a gained code, definitely not there naturally, it was oddly mashed in, in a a spot that made it boarderline impossible to remove, 

he quoted at his screen, it was almost as if a light bulb went off in his head. He jolted up, opening the code screen on his communicator and running to Xexon. 

He stumbled into the room, 

“Xexon,” he pointed to a small symbol in Grians code, one he hadn’t seen in so long, a definitive marking, a slight shiver ran over his bones as he looked at it once more, he remembered what those _things_ could do, “Why the _hell_ is that there?”

Grian growled slightly, he started at the brown rabbit on the jungle floor, the two seeming to be at impossible odds. The rabbit sniffed slightly, it small nose twitching as it stared at Grian with empty eyes. There was a faint sqauking and Grian turned to see Professor Beak angrily pecking at a piece of bamboo, Grian heard the rabbit scuttle away at his sudden movements. 

“Hey Grian! Where are you?” Grian fumbled for his mask, he garbled, trying to say _over here,_ but it turned out more like a deranged squirrel. Stress popped through the trees, she jumped down delicately to the soft ground he was crouched on, “Het love, i came by to se how you were doing, if youre up for it, Tango has offered to take you to the nether and get you some netherite armor?” 

Grian nodded, “are you coming?”

“Yeah, there’s a few others who want to look for quartz or just hang out.” 

“Alright.” 

“Perfect! When would you be ready to go?”

Grian tossed his buliding materials in his rapidly growing chest monster and grabbed an extra shulker box, “Now i guess.” 

“Great! The boys are impatient.” Stress smiled softly. 

The two set off, flying low over the trees, Grians wings beat silently, sending shockwaves of air to the trees below him, Stress had to fly slightly higher to avoid beging thrown to the ground. 

They landed on the balcony of Tangos toon towers, faintly behind them, the netherborn was running around in circles, the other people seemingly ignoring him, looking closing over some plans. There were a few more people running about, Grian could see Etho and Beef talking to the side, there was the creeper standing next to them. 

Grian saw Stress beging to walk down the stairs, but he stayed on the balcony, before his eyes, the sun fell behind the trees, blues and pinks, purples and red, pale greens nestled in the array of colors, so bright so vibrant. Grian felt a tug in his heart, it reminded him of something, he didnt know what. Small clouds dotted over the falling sun, birds cooed their evening sun, the wind sang softly as his passed his ears. He stood, awestruck as the sun fell. 

“Grian, love?” Stress reappeared by his side, he faintly heard other footsteps, he knew it was the others, and he knew there was a nether portal just a few feet away, but he ignored them. He was entranced by the sunset. 

“it is really pretty isnt it?” 

Grian felt a small pang of fear. “ Iℸ ̣ ∴╎ꖎꖎ ∷╎ᓭᒷ ᔑ⊣ᔑ╎リ? r╎⊣⍑ℸ ̣ ?” 

“What? Grian youre speaking galactic.” Tango walked up beside him, trying to see what was so entrancing for the smaller.

“-it’ll be back?-“ 

“Huh? Of course! The sun always rises! Have you never see a sunset Grian?”

The smaller shook his head, but he didnt dare to tear his eyes away from the magical view. “It reminds me of something, i dont know what it is.” 

Tango smiled sadly, “well we will be back in time for sun up, let’s go hm?” 

Grian nodded following closely behind Stress as the group crossed the nether portal. Grian felt sick as the purple swirled around him, he clung to the pink sweater as reality began to twist before his eyes. 

The first thing he saw in the nether was copious amounts of red, then he heard the nether sounds, piglins and hoglins. He blinked as he took in the area, they stood by a nether portal, the group slowly advancing as Grian stood in awe. The air was sticky and hot, he shook his head and scrambled to catch up with the group. 

——

It was a little terrifying at first, seeing Grians reactions to the nether, but also seeing how everything reacted with him. Piglins watched silently, hoglins ran away, skeletons attacked him from any distance, he casually deflected their blunt arrows with a powerful sweep on his wings. Zedaph was truly confused at Grians reaction to a ghast, the smaller shrieked and tried to hid himself, _He must have some weird magic,_ Zedaph thought, Grian pulled an Xisuma type trick and forced himself out of existence, his wings seemed to glitch away and his body slowly faded, his inventory dropped to the ground. 

Everyone stood for a second, before Doc killed the ghast and Grian blipped back before them. The fancy demon child, another of Ethos fantastic nicknames, just picked up his things and went back to Stress’s side, he ignored that that had even happened. 

Slowly they broke into groups, and Grian was left with Tango, Impluse, Zedaph and Etho. Stress had gone back due to Cleo request and the others had gone looking for quartz. Grian was just a bit terrified without stress, but it was fine, he could manage. 

“So Grian! Sorry P if this is impolite, but where are you from?” Impluse asked and they watched tango burrow into the soft netherrack. 

“What?”

“Like Tangos a nether born, as you can tell, Zedaph is a sheep hybrid is from the Xether, Etho is....” the ninja was throwing small bits of netherrack at a very annnoyed hoglin who was _just_ to far away to hit him, “he’s certainly something, he’s from the Wether, and I’m a human just nether raised,” 

“I’m think I was human. I’m not sure.” Grian felt weird, he liked Impluse sure, but could he _trust_ him?

“Thats fair, some of us don’t know who we were before hermitcraft, Iskall doesn’t even acknowledge that he had a past life, I think TFC has adopted all of us out of spite, the only thing that Beef talks about is his father.” 

“You all had bad lives?” 

“Yeah, I worked in a slave mine, I escaped and hid in the nether, this moron-“ Impluse gestured to tango, whos tail was now only visible by a few inches, he was burrows in the netherrack, shoving bits of ancient debris at Zedaph, “-ended up finding me, we basically lived together until we ended up being found by Keralis.” 

“What about Zedaph?” 

Impluse laughed slightly, “he’s a bastard, illegitimate child of a royal heir, not to mention his father was ram. This is his safe haven, since he’s a hybrid and a royal, there’s quite a pretty price for him between hunters.” 

Grian nodded, the two before him seemed so happy, so carefree, they were content, maybe he could be content too?

“I went to high school with a murderer, I’ve been through 10 worlds, but I don’t remember much.”

Impluse nodded, “Grian, I heard what happened with Mumbo and Iskall,” the taller looked at him compassionately, “I’m not saying forgive them, but give them a chance? If it’s any consolation, quite a few of us have been speared by Iskall, Wether we had known his for years or just met.” 

Grian nodded, “I’ll try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, just wait for me to show the real backstory between Grian and Xexon :)
> 
> Also i just figured out how to use italics and stuff


	10. Yeah, friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be forewarned, boundaries are broken in this chapter, Xexon and Xisuma fight.

Grian was getting along with everyone...mostly. He still avoided Doc and Mumbo when he could, but he and Iskall could be referred to as friends now, even if Iskall still scared him half to death most of the time.

Xisuma worried, he watched Grian and he worried, what had happened to him? Xexon hesitated to tell him, but he ended up telling him everything from when Xexon met Grian and forward, but it was Grians past worlds that traumatized him. The brothers could only guess what had happened to the small blonde, and guessing from the strong reactions he had, they were pretty sure they had a good idea. Xexon knew snippets, about some high school, and a world that was burned down, he also knew Grian used to constantly wear a Link cosplay. 

“So...” Xisuma spun around in his chair lazily, “therapy?” 

“He needs more than that.” 

“Gotcha, murder? Just for closure?” 

“Suma...” 

“Okay, okay, nonviolent stuff....arson?”

“Suma!” 

“Okay I’ll just pamper him.” 

The two sat in silence again. Until Xiusma shot up.

“We know enough about him to search him though the data base and find what worlds he used to be in.” 

“No! That’s a complete invasion of his privacy!”

“But he dones the even know! We can help him if we know what to expect!”

Xexon faltered. “Fine,”

——

Grian spun and landed with force, his axe spinning in his hand as he dealt blow after blow to the tiring False, the others cheered as he maneuvered with ease, slipping away from Falses sword. He dodged and jumped, Etho had spend a few hours with him the day beofre, helping him learn how to flicker his wings away, as they were quite cumbersome and heavy. Grian used this to his advantage, without the weight, he could move smoother that even the resident ninja. 

He caught an unfortunate hit to his horns, he jerked his head back, yanking the sword form falses hand and tried to pull it from were it was embedded in his right horn. It didn’t work. 

“Are you okay?” Grian nodded, the sword bobbing hilariously, he giggled as it shimmered in the air. 

False grabbed the handle and pulled, it didn’t work. “Doc? Gimme a hand?” The creeper jumped over the short wall of the arena, he kneeled next to Grian. 

“Hold on.” Doc grabbed Grians horn and with his mechanical hand, he pried the blade out of the thick horn, a heavy dent was left, but the blade of falses sword was warped and chipped. He tossed the blade to the side and looked carefully at Grians horns.  
“That’s more than halfway, do you want me to add a bar or something so it doesn’t break?” 

Grian shook his head, he grabbed the upper part of the horn, where it was weak, and he snapped it off. There was a nerve in his horn, he hissed slightly before just ignoring it, tossing the horn bit to the side, impulse picked it up, made a face of confusion, and pocketed it, Grian probably wouldnt want it back anyway. Grian stood back up, picking up his axe, “go again?”

“Grian, you just broke your horn, take a break.” 

Grian shook his head, spinning his axe again. 

“I’ll spar!” Bdubs jumped down, “I wanna try please?” 

False relented, “fine.” 

Bdubs and Grian began to spar, Bdubs had his hands full trying to avoid the axe, Grian jumped around, over him, past him, anything to get a hit. 

“What’s with the bouncing bunny boy?” Bdubs jabbed as he narrowly avoided grians axe once more. 

Grian growled, he tossed his mask to the side, snapping his jaw as he landed on Bdubs, the builder threw Grain off and scrambled to the side. 

“What was that Greenie?” _Gree-on_

Grian snapped, abandoning his axe he lunged at Bdubs, he was angry, but he didn’t know why. 

His jump was cut short and he was yanked back abruptly. He twisted in someone’s grasp, trying to get out, get away. He bit down on anything he could. 

Scar yelped and dropped the rabid builder, Grian snapped around and crouched down, watching them all with void like eyes. Scar reached forward with his uninjured arm and made a grab at Grians sweater. His attempt was cut short. 

Mumbo pulled scar back, moving himself between Grian and the others. 

“You’re scaring him.” Mumbo spoke with a strong sense of finality. He pushed Scar away from Grian, planting himslef between the two parties. 

“He attacked Scar!” “Something set him off.” “But he bit me!” “He’s scared, look at him.” 

Grian did look a bit pitiful, he was crouched down to the ground, as far back as he could get in the arena. He’s ears were pinned back and his eyes wide, his claws dug deeply into the ground, they could see his wings flickering in their limbo, they were puffed and held up, making him look bigger in the same way owls do when startled. His fangs dropped down, ready to snap again.

“Grian?” Mumbo shuffled forward, towards Grian. “Its okay,” 

Mumbo tried, he really did. But Grian was jus scared, why was he scared? He didnt know. They all scared him, except for Stress and Xisuma, and Etho, he was nice once they got past the ‘Grian murdering him’ part. And TFC was okay, the girls were nice and- okay, it was Doc, Mumbo and Iskall. They scared him.

“Hey Bud,” Etho kneeled next to him, running his fingers through his hair, “lets get you home okay?” 

Grain nodded, shakily following after Etho. He caught glimpse of Mumbo standing to the side, the taller smiled softly at him, Grain smiled a tiny bit back. Yeah mumbo was fine, still scary, but fine.

——

Xisumas breath hitched as he glanced over the overview of a few worlds. Grian had lived in all of them, and there was one thing that connected all of them. Total destruction. He was getting less and less sure of his decision to let Grian stay. He had to do something. 

“Xexon, I can’t let him stay.” 

“Nonononon you have to!” Xexon jumped out of his chair, standing next to Xisuma, “he has nowhere else to go!”

Xisuma spun around, facing off to Xexon, “Thats not a valid reason and you know it!” 

“He cant go back.”

“Like hell! He lived there before, he can live there again!”

“No!”

“Im not risking the life of my friends!” 

“Damn you Xisuma! You made me a promise! Dont break it now, not after so long.” 

“I’m. Not. Risking. Them.” Xisuma turnned to leave the room. 

“But youre risking me.” 

He stopped in his tracks, “You know I’m not.” 

“But you are, get rid of him and you get rid of me.” 

“What makes him so special?” 

“What makes your friends so special?” 

They were at a standstill. 

“I’m sure if you had known Grian when i did, you wouldnt dare of even thinking of turning him away.”

“Why does he take precedent over me?!” Xisuma was crying now, he hated fighting. 

“Because he has suffered more than all of your precious hermits combined, he has suffered more than you, he has suffered more than _us._ He deserves a chance.” Xexon stood a mirror image of Xiusma, both angry, both distraught. 

“I-“ he didn’t know what to say, he didnt know what to argue, “I dont want to risk my home.” 

“This is just a such your home as it is mine. Theses are also my friends, we are all of this. Xisuma,” Xexon hesitated, “I’m the evil one, dont earn my title.” 

That was enough. 

“Fine, he stays, but, what do we do about _that?_ “ 

They both looked at the history of Grians worlds, at the small piece of code. 

“Ill be back in a few days, tell Grian I’ll work on his base with him when I’m back.”

“Xexon wait!-“ too late, Xexon disappeared, leaving behind shimmering purple particles. Xisuma sighed and looked at the world logs. _how could this be fixed?_

Xisuma glanced at he two figurines on his table. He picked up the smooth rabbit, running it over in his hands.  
_what did it mean? Why did Grian have it?_

He was to entranced in his thoughts to realize, the other figurine on the table, the person, had turned gray.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Impulse hoards tiny items and trinkets bc i said so. Also i do that and i suggest it for anyone, being a goblin with a crow brain is fun.


	11. In the absence of everything

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk how to measure how long chapters are but this feels short.

Etho watched the smaller run round, laying out the foundation of his base. Grian built fast.

He was nestled in a tree, only a few feet of the ground. Etho sat and sketched redstone plans, keeping an eye on Grian, making sure the smaller didn’t accidentally dive bond the ground and get hurt. Every so often, the builder would run up to the tree and dump out his pockets, filled with cool rocks, shiny things, anything he found. Etho was pretty sure Grain found one of Scars weird looking crystals. Grain was like Impulse that way, collecting small things. Grian even jumped up at one point to toss a rock into Ethos lap, it was vaguely shaped like a fox. He smiled as the builder returned to the giant mansion he was buliding.

Grian already has the skeleton of his base up, and Etho had only been sitting there for a few hours, maybe more because he fell asleep at one point but he was sure it had only been a day!

Grian was throwing the walls up at making speed. Casually jumping from wall to wall, spotting out where he wanted his windows and balconies. He was using resources that Xexon had left for him, but Etho was sure that a few of the blocks Grian was using actually existed, they looked like some weird experiment but Grian used them well.

At some point, Etho had to leave, he bid Grian goodbye and promised he be back soon, he had work in the wether to do.

When he crossed the wether portal, Etho was almost immediately bowled over by Rumbles. The cloud spirit jumped around, whistling as Etho began to walk towards his tunnel system, the small spirit ran circles around his legs, he gently picked the hyper puff ball up.

"Hey Bud? Miss me?" The puff whistled excitedly and tried to wiggle up into his vest, nestling itself around his neck.

Etho walked silently with Rumbles, time passing slowly as the slight pale tunnels opened into his Wether base.

He sighed as he sank down onto the large nest like bed. Rumbles running in circles around the plush pile.

He rolled over and began to thumb through his books, looking for a specific page, something on plant life, he wanted to grow a garden in the overworld, but have the pale colors of the wether too, just something small, something to put all the small stones Grian gave him in. He ran his hand over the small fox stone and set it on the table, he didn’t notice a small spark coming from it.

Grian jumped around as he built, throwing his walls to the sky, he danced around the mobs, letting them spawn and fall from such a height. There was a twisted satisfaction as they hit the ground. He moved smoothly, fluidly. The mansion grew around him, walls detailed and strong the moment he finished them, wide open windows, balconies and chimneys.

Iskall, Scar and Stress watched in amazement. Grian let himself fall to lower levels, before summoning his wings and taking off with more force than any elytra. He would turn and fall down the mountain of a bulid.

“Grian!” The winged blonde spun around, eyes wide. He softened slightly as he spotted the trio on the ground.

“Hel ꖎ o!” There was a weird inflection as Grian spoke, a bit still fading into galactic.

“Hello Luv!” Stress waved and Grian readied his wings.

He jumped down, wings tucked in, and flipped in the air. There was a heavy wing beat and handed gently on the ground, wings held out at their truest span.

“What b∷ings you alꖎ a∷ound?”

“We came to hang out! We wanna get to know out newest member, in a way that doesn’t involve near death experiences!” Scar smiled at the shorter.

Grian trilled, “Ive just started on the interiors! Come on!” He tugged Stress along, the other two following behind. He scampered up the stairs, the huge doors open in front of the group. 

“Grian how long did this take?”

“Not long, Xexon gave me resources and a few creative perks just for a little bit.” The interior of the base had a huge fireplace and pillars around it, Grian had a chest with a few diamond blocks and a few pieces of netherite. The base was huge, Grian had been working hard for awhile and it showed. Iskall couldnt look away from the chandelier, it was some kind of block that he didn’t recognize, a pale mirage of swirling colours, he saw Scar and Stress look at it too for a second before turning back to Grian. 

“Grian this is wonderful! What are those?” Scar pointed to the strange blocks in the chandelier. 

Grian giggled lightly. “Magic.” He placed a block on the ground, the same gleaming color. He smiled wildly and slid into the block. 

“Uh Grian?” There was nothing where the smaller had stood. 

“Up.” Grian smiled down on them, hanging upside down on the chandelier, legs hooked around the end rods and hands dangling. His wings were summoned and fanned out. “Portals. Handy, but they make excellent decoration.” 

“Portals for who?”

“Guides, Xexon gave me a stack so he could visit often.” Grian let himself flip from the swinging lights. He landed delicately and with a shake of his wings, scooped up the portal block. 

“hows the sweater holding up? I was worried that the gaps weren’t big enough for your wings.” Stress smooths the rumples down the sweater, rebuttoning the clasp at the bottom. 

“Its perfect Stress! I cant thank you enough.” 

The four talked about various things, Grian introduced his bird, the handsome Professor Beak, a truly regal pest. It was...nice. Grian liked them, he could call them friends, even though the word made something twist in his heart.

—

Tango growled and pounced, the sound of Zedaphs screech filled the entirety of Impulses base.

Impulse waded out of his redstone soup of a sorting system to see what had happened. Zedaph rolled around, kicked at Tango any chance he got, the Netherborn laughed and jumped again, Zedaph squeaked as he rolled out of the way. Impulse watched the two, Zedaph desperately trying to keep the shulker box out of Tangos reach, Impulse wasnt sure what was inside it, but he guessed something trivial.

“SUCCESS!” Tango scampered away, opening the shulker as he ran and pulling out the cookies Stress had left for them. 

“Tango! That’s nots fair!” Zedpah ran after him, hooves slipping on the smooth glass floor. He stumbled and splatted on the floor. Zedaph pouted, his ears falling flat against his head and eyes wide, the best puppy(sheep?) eyes he could manage. 

Impulse sighed as Zedaph silently pleaded with him to get the cookies back. The Sheep scrambled to his feet and clipped after him as Impulse went to find tango. The red blond had run off the sound he saw the guilt tripping look on the sheep’s face. 

The pair found Tango behind the water streams of Impulses farms. The blonde was digging through the box of cookies, contently plopped down on the floor. Impulse walked up behind him, startlingly quiet. Impulse grabbed Tango and lifted him him into the air, the blond screeched and flailed, kicking at Impulse. Impulse just smiled and tossed the blond over his shoulder. Tango flopped upside down and and look directly at Zedaph.

“You.” 

Zedaph giggled, he grabbed the box and ran. His hooves clicking and slipping over the floor. A mis balanced step sent Zedaph sprawling and Impulse dropped tango. The Netherborn rolled over, starring daggers at the two, Impulse just looked at Tango, darling him to go after the box, Zedaph stared at the box, looking inside with a confused expression. 

“Zedaph?”

“theres a rabbit in here.” 

“What?”

Zedaph reached inside and pulled out a fluffy white rabbit, it started at him blankly. “Can we keep it?” 

“Zed, no.” Impulse took it from him, the rabbit slowly turned it head and was still in his hands. “We should just let it go.” 

“But its so cute!” 

“It looks like it wants to murder us.”

“Probably with how much you two were throwing the box around.”

Zedaph stuck his tongue out and tucked the rabbit inside his cardigan, it looked at the sheep with the most offended expression. 

“Zed....” Impulse used his signature ‘disappointed mom’ look.

“Okay! Okay!” Zed pulled the rabbit out of his shirt and dropped it on the floor, it looked at him with devilish eyes and scampered out the doorway, hopping down the walkway and jumping into the water and swimming, Zed just shrugged and went to cause some sort of chaos in the oceanic pyramid.

—

Grian was full of energy, he seemed to thrive on chaos and just people in general. He hopped around nearly bouncing of the walls as they talked.the sun was setting and Grian pulled them inside, insisting they stay the night. Not that the trio minded, Grian was fun. 

They sat on top of the mansion, legs dangling over the edge of the balcony. Jellie contently snuggled into the small space between Stress and Grian, Professor Beak hopped around on the railing, chirping at the small specks of dust in the air, the blue parrot finally resigned to lay in Grians lap and annoy Jellie.

Their conversation bounced all around, from past events on the server to base plans to weird things that had happened. It was nice. The golden light provided an ambient atmosphere as it faded. Grian seemed, sad? Like the server reminded him of a past life, one he held dear.

Grian smiled and laughed, but his eyes seemed a bit empty, he looked strained, exhausted, he looked slightly sick. As if it was _just_ too much effort on keep a smile on his face. Like he wanted to fade away. 

“It’s getting late, we better go before the phantoms come out.” 

Grain bid them goodbye and retreated into his mansion, Stress and Scar walked through the jungle together, Iskall sped off quickly. 

The walk as quiet and nice, but Scar noticed something. 

“does that look like a person?”

Stress squinted, in the bamboo, there was the unmistakable form of a person, floating slightly, with a red tinted glow.

“Probably just Mumbo doing something weird.” 

“if you insist, I’m not checking it out.”

“Oh!” Stress giggled ad took a picture of the strange form it’s her comm, “We’ll interrogate him tomorrow, with _everyone_.”

The tow headed off to their bases, unaware that the figure was not, in fact, Mumbo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, sorry this chapter took so long, i was working on this and i got a bit side tracked and then writers block his me like a bullet in the back and I was _really_ not in the headspace to write. 
> 
> Anyway theres a few playlists that helped me cope. All on Spotify.  
> songs to make you fall asleep and fade into the void by Jo Mahu  
> haunting my best friends house vibes by Sharp  
> Feral child wants affection but is angry at the world for everything (writing playlist) by Sharp  
> I couldnt get the links to work :(


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